In a recent article about James Mattis, Jeffrey Goldberg described him as “a gifted storyteller;” during his long service in public life Mattis displayed that gift. Mattis is best known as a retired Marine general and secretary of defense. He's also an accomplished writer. In fact, it's Mattis's authorship that has him back in the news due to the Wall Street Journal's publication of an excerpt of his new book, Call Sign Chaos, written with Bing West, and because of Goldberg's article about him in The Atlantic. As Mattis re-enters public life it's useful to think of him as a writer in an effort to unpack the complicated dynamics around that re-entry. In particular, it's helpful to look at several pieces of his: his speech at Boeing Field over Memorial Day weekend, the resignation letter, the book Warriors and Citizens, and his letter to All Hands the night before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
What follows here sketches some of the currents, undercurrents and crosscurrents of Mattis's re-emergence before zeroing in on the themes, issues and concerns that dominate his writing. Hearing from people talking about Mattis is an important prelude to hearing from him on his own terms, and the current runs in the other direction too, hearing from Mattis himself is an important rejoinder to hearing other people talk about him. The Mattis that emerges in his own writing is a different Mattis than the one argued over.
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